all that variation among individuals (and even within an individual, as they age) makes dragonflies such wonderful objects for critter watchin

No kidding!

I have to say that taking up critter watching (to give me something to do while hiking) has really been amazing. I think back to when I did not pay any attention to the critters I encountered and my view of the world was very limited. For example, birds in a given area fell into two categories - the "standard, familiar" ones I knew or "LLB" (or the equivalent), which meant that to me at the time, there were something along the lines of...say...10 species of birds here in Virginia. I'm exaggerating a bit, but not much. Butterflies were just "butterflies"; I might have recognized a handful of species, but I didn't really know them. Ditto for all other "bugs", though I did know a few spiders.

Now, however, after a few years of really studying birds and their relationships to various habitats, I can't help but take note of everything that moves and note variations between similar "kinds". Now I'm, still learning and I sometimes confuse similar species, but it's such a thrill to even note the similarities and try to find out better ways to distinguish them.

It really is a lot of fun learning as a go on this.

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis

Very late in the year for brandt's cormorant to be feeding chicks, yet here they are. Shot at the Coast Guard pier in Monterey. This colony's full of courtship and nesting behavior earlier in the spring. I shot this last week, these were the only chicks left at the colony (lots of juvies, of course, and a few of those still begging for food, mostly unsuccessfully).

Shot with my 300/4, no extender, to give you some idea of how close the colony is to the fence that bars entry to the jetty ...

This also shows the great dynamic range modern digital sensors give you. On slide film, either the black corm body would be blocked up or the shit white (yes, that's why it's white) would be blown out. As originally rendered same with the digital capture, but I shot it in RAW format so was able to reduce the dynamic range to the point where there's detail in both the black body and shit white rock.

Their morning trips are usually 4 1/2 hours long, and their #1 boat has plenty of deck space and is relatively easy to move around from side-to-side, stern-to-bow, etc even when fully loaded (some of the companies only go out for a couple of hours per trip, and have large boats with a lousy deck space-to-passenger ratio).

And one of the captains is one of the best birders in monterey county and their naturalists and the owner are all experienced pelagic birders ...

You have prompted me to upload a few images from my weekend walkabout in California back in June. Not being a native I don't know what I'm looking at, but I think #3 is a Chestnut-backed Chickadee. Help with the others would be appreciated. There's a few more once these are figured out :-)

--------------Joe: Most criticisims of ID stem from ignorance and jealousy.Joe: As for the authors of the books in the Bible, well the OT was authored by Moses and the NT was authored by various people.Byers: The eskimo would not need hairy hair growth as hair, I say, is for keeping people dry. Not warm.

Excellent - thanks so much, I wasn't sure if 2 & 4 were the same species, as they were taken at different times in different places, so thanks again for that!

ETA: Looking the Goldfinch up, it looks like '2' is a Green-backed Adult Male and '4' is an adult Female.

I work for a company in the San Jose area, but live in the UK so I only get over there once or twice a year. I've been to Monterey several times while visiting and know the pier you are talking about above - maybe next time if the season is right i'll do the whale boat trip too!

--------------Joe: Most criticisims of ID stem from ignorance and jealousy.Joe: As for the authors of the books in the Bible, well the OT was authored by Moses and the NT was authored by various people.Byers: The eskimo would not need hairy hair growth as hair, I say, is for keeping people dry. Not warm.

A few more I took in Castle Rock State Park, Santa Clara. The big birds are Turkey Vultures, I believe. The top of the park is at about 2,400 feet so I was able to get photo's of them climbing and soaring. The first butterfly is from the same park, the second is from a different park about 20 miles to the South which is mostly grassland at about 2,000 feet up, it is parked on top of a grain of grass.

I tried to save them at a relatively small filesize - hope it doesn't slow the page loading time down too much!

--------------Joe: Most criticisims of ID stem from ignorance and jealousy.Joe: As for the authors of the books in the Bible, well the OT was authored by Moses and the NT was authored by various people.Byers: The eskimo would not need hairy hair growth as hair, I say, is for keeping people dry. Not warm.

A few more I took in Castle Rock State Park, Santa Clara. The big birds are Turkey Vultures, I believe. The top of the park is at about 2,400 feet so I was able to get photo's of them climbing and soaring. The first butterfly is from the same park, the second is from a different park about 20 miles to the South which is mostly grassland at about 2,000 feet up, it is parked on top of a grain of grass.

I tried to save them at a relatively small filesize - hope it doesn't slow the page loading time down too much!

Lovely shots Freddie!

The first butterfly is a Checkerspot and looks like the Bay Checkerspot ( Euphydryas editha bayensisto) me. It's a checkerspot found around San Francisco Bay area, which could easily come down to Santa Clara.

The second butterfly is definitely from the Hesperiidae family, which includes all the skippers. However, I can't ID this particular individual. Looks similar to a Fiery to me, but I'm not positive on that.

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis

"ETA: Looking the Goldfinch up, it looks like '2' is a Green-backed Adult Male and '4' is an adult Female."

Good - you saved me the trouble of snarkily posting "each species comes in two sexes" in response to your saying you weren't sure they were the same species.

"I work for a company in the San Jose area, but live in the UK so I only get over there once or twice a year. I've been to Monterey several times while visiting and know the pier you are talking about above - maybe next time if the season is right i'll do the whale boat trip too!"

Morning is best as it tends to be calmer and the company I go out with stays out 4-5 hours. Their afternoon trips are an hour shorter (and correspondingly cheaper), and if gets warm and the land breeze picks up too much are canceled fairly often. Some of the competitors only go out for a couple of hours, which is probably good for those who get seasick but given the distance one needs to typically go to get out to and then find whales, not so good for the rest of us.

The first word that comes to mind when casting your eyes upon this photo of a bedazzling insect labeled the Venezuelan Poodle Moth is Photoshop. Really? A moth that looks like a poodle? Eyelashes that Lady Gaga would envy? Seriously?

Freddie, do you have a ventral view of the checkerspot, and a more direct ventral view of the second butterfly (a lycaenid)?

Gah ... now you're going to make me post the ones that didn't quite make it out of RAW stage. I don't have ventral pictures of either of those specific butterfly's. I did take some more of what I think are the same species as the checkerspot in the same area on the same day (below) but the only other one I have of the lycaenid is basically the same shot from only a slightly different angle.

--------------Joe: Most criticisims of ID stem from ignorance and jealousy.Joe: As for the authors of the books in the Bible, well the OT was authored by Moses and the NT was authored by various people.Byers: The eskimo would not need hairy hair growth as hair, I say, is for keeping people dry. Not warm.

Freddie, if you're concerned that some of your other pictures aren't very good, don't worry, I won't denigrate them. Even a blurry, badly lit (or worse) picture can often be helpful when it comes to identifying a critter or plant. And I know how hard it can be to get good pictures of some things, especially when they don't sit still.

Regarding the checkerspots, I'd say that the second picture is a chalcedon checkerspot (Euphydryas chalcedona) which is also also called 'variable' checkerspot, etc., etc., and some people consider the chalcedon to be the same as the colon checkerspot and maybe even the same as the anicia checkerspot. Yeah, it's a bunch of lumping or splitting and just plain confusion. The same thing goes for some lycaenids and many other butterflies. Taxonomists like to throw a lot of names at things before they know what they actually are.

Edith's checkerspots are easy to identify if you have a ventral view. They have a thin dark line running through one of the orange/red bands on the hind wings. The chaos with Edith's starts when it comes to "sub" species, "forms", etc.

The butterflies know what they are. :)

The white spots on the abdomen of the second checkerspot above are also an indicator that it's a chalcedon although the white spots aren't always there. I think that the first one is also a chalcedon ('variable', etc.) but I wish I had a ventral view to be sure.

--------------Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. - Jesus in Matthew 10:34

But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me. -Jesus in Luke 19:27

I did take some more of what I think are the same species as the checkerspot in the same area on the same day (below) but the only other one I have of the lycaenid is basically the same shot from only a slightly different angle.

Well, with this angle, I'm inclined to agree with TWT - this this looks like more like a Chalcedon Checkerspot to me as well. Hard to say in that first shot though as it really looks like there's more orange on the wings, but the male and female Chalcedon have some variation in the spots, and the head and antennae in that second shot does not match the Bay. Nice shots either way.

--------------we IDists rule in design for the flagellum and cilium largely because they do look designed. Bilbo

The only reason you reject Thor is because, like a cushion, you bear the imprint of the biggest arse that sat on you. Louis